The Roads That Lead To You
by Patche
Summary: Deciding to run away from the depressing life he'd been living, Inuyasha sets out to find his biological father, but finds love in a girl that saved him along the way. Inu/Kag
1. Prelude to a Love Story

**The Roads That Lead To You**

**By: Patche**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the characters or story of Inuyasha, nor have I ever claimed to.

**A/N: **So, I broke my one rule… It was bound to happen eventually. All I ask is that, if you are going to review to this story or 'I Stole Your Soul', please don't ask me to update the other story. I promise you guys… these two stories will be finished. I'm just about to start wrapping ISYS up and I haven't been able to get this story off my mind! It's been driving me crazy…

**Chapter 1: The Prelude to a Love Story**

**oOo**

_My mother was always a bit of a quack. When I went to her as a young boy crying about the melancholies of my childhood, she'd give me a simple, kind, lecture on the reality of the world… then follow it up with a quote she'd read during her hours of studying literature. It was all she ever did, being the high school-level literature teacher she was. I guess that says enough about her sanity…_

_Anyway, I couldn't tell you the problem I was having when she gave me the only quote I've remembered and actually been able to apply to my life. She told me that Jean Nidetch once said "It is choice, not chance that determines your destiny."_

_I couldn't agree more. I've known that we, as a people, tend to sit and waste hours wondering how we wound up… wherever we wind up. Destiny and fate always seem to be the easy culprits. 'There was a reason this happened, because it had to get me to here…' The logic holds true… at least in my case. Every act of fate that has been bestowed upon me was by choice. It's amazing to think about them. All the choices I made. All the events that had to occur… just to lead me to where I am and where I've been… All the roads I took to lead me to her._

**---**

_March 14__th__, 1986_

It had to be at least two in the morning when she opened her eyes to find him on the bed across from her. His bright amber eyes had been sealed shut. His bare chest was basking in the moonlight, shining through the window and she watched with amazement at the soft movements it made as he breathed in and out in his sleep.

She could have watched him forever, but she had to leave. She couldn't stay. Sighing, she leaned over and brushed her lips to his forehead one last time, before slipping out from under the covers and setting her feet on the carpeted ground beneath her.

She drew in a shaky breath as she felt a pang in her chest. 'I can't do this anymore… I'm so sorry, Inu…' She thought, lifting herself from the mattress. She gasped as she felt a hand reaching out for her. She expected to see him glaring at her angrily as she spun around to face the man on the bed. But instead, he merely rolled over, his back facing her.

She sighed with relief and continued on her way out the door, leaving behind those amber eyes that were glued to the window as she made her way out of his life.

He sighed hopelessly and rolled over on the bed, staring up at the ceiling in despair.

"Izayoi…" He groaned.

---

The sun had just begun to rise once she'd arrived at the home she shared with her husband, Takemaru. She pulled her compact mirror from her purse and quickly checked her face to make sure all evidence of her crying fit the whole way home were vanished.

Satisfied with the reflection, she placed the object back into her purse and opened the door.

"Just where the hell have you been?" A voice slurred. She inwardly groaned. He'd been drinking, just as he always was. She'd become well-aware of his problems when it came to alcohol and would have gladly divorced him in a heartbeat if he hadn't threatened to ruin her life and that of her "not-so-secret lover". The fact that he was aware of Inu no Taisho's existence in her life made his questioning her whereabouts even more ridiculous. It was obvious, she was with the man she loved, rather than the person she was forced to tolerate for the rest of her life.

Her marriage to Takemaru was purely political. Her father was an old fashioned man and enjoyed the thought of giving his daughter the best life he could, whether she agreed to it or not. So, by the time Izayoi was seventeen, she was engaged to a man she didn't know and wished she had never met. At the time, she was already close friends with Inu no Taisho, a demon boy in her high school class. He had been the father of one of her best friend's children when he was only fifteen. When the girl decided she wanted nothing to do with the baby, it was Inu no Taisho and his family that raised it. Izayoi thought it was a miraculously responsible thing for him to do, and quickly befriended him. Though they never dated through high school, Inu no Taisho, or Inu as she called him, had loved Izayoi deeply and was furious to find that she was engaged against her will to a man she didn't even know.

The relationship she had with Inu began long before she married Takemaru. Once he found out about Inu, he didn't forbid her from seeing him. He did, however, threaten to have him murdered if anyone were to find out about her affair. It wasn't that he cared about Izayoi being his… Takemaru's pride was on the line. He'd be damned if anyone were to know his wife was unfaithful.

She ignored him and walked into the kitchen, turning on the light as she passed through the doorway.

"Izayoi…" He snarled, jumping up from his chair in the living room and rushing into the kitchen. She gasped as he grabbed her arms, forcefully digging into the skin exposed by her short-sleeved shirt. The pain of his hands caused her to whimper.

"I'll ask you again…" He said through clenched teeth. "Were you with him?"

Silence.

He growled, pulling her toward him only to shove her against the wall. She groaned in pain. "ANSWER ME!"

She could smell the alcohol on his breath and furrowed her brow in anger. She opened her mouth to speak, but quickly closed it when her husband pulled her off the wall and threw her on the ground. He turned on his heel and stormed out the front door, leaving his wife on the linoleum.

---

It had been nearly two months since she'd seen or made contact with Inu no Taisho. Izayoi had decided this was for the best. She was risking his safety by being with him. At least this way he could find someone to be with that would be able to give her whole self to him. Not just half.

She felt a tear gather in the corner of her eye at the thought of him smiling, happily married to someone that wasn't her.

'It almost makes me sick to my stomach…' She thought as she felt bile rising in her throat. She gasped and clamped a hand over her mouth, running to the nearest bathroom in her home.

---

"Well, Yamaguchi-san… it seems you don't have a stomach virus." The female doctor standing across the office from Izayoi spoke cheerfully. "In fact, you are pregnant. Congratulations you two!" She chimed happily.

Izayoi felt her blood run cold. Takemaru knew it wasn't his. They hadn't had sex in years. She clenched her eyes shut, not daring to turn and face him.

The doctor tilted her head to the side at their odd reaction to her news.

"Is there… something…" She started.

"Leave." Takemaru said coldly. The doctor nodded and hastily made her way out of the office.

Izayoi took a deep breath, preparing herself for whatever he was about to unleash on her.

"How could you let this happen?" He snarled. "I told you you could do whatever the fuck you felt like doing. And THIS?! Now everyone will know about you and that slimy demon you've been fucking behind my back! I have no choice…" He muttered the last bit, still keeping his distance from the woman. If he got any closer, he could feel that he'd lose himself and there would soon be a scene.

"Don't you dare!" Izayoi shot back.

"You're going to give birth to a MONSTER! Everyone will know it's not mine. I can't have my name defiled like that, Izayoi." He spoke calmly. "Divorce is out of the question, but you'll have to say that you were raped by that ferocious demon and forced to give birth to his spawn." He turned his head to her. "Or I'll do it for you, and go ahead and take care of the abomination in your stomach and the man that inseminated you with it while I'm at it."

Izayoi clenched her teeth. "You're disgusting." She growled through her teeth.

"Maybe so, but I'm not the one carrying a half breed in my uterus, am I?"

---

_December 11__th__, 2004_

He sat, perched in his favorite tree in the school's courtyard. It was his lunch break, and this was where he often found himself. He liked the solitude, however. It was better than any attention his peers or teachers would give him.

His amber eyes flickered to a large hornet that landed on the base of the tree. He narrowed them and watched as it moved along the bark, searching for whatever smell had led it here. Realizing the smell had come from some flowers in the leaves of the tree, the hornet launched itself from the base and flew right by the boy's overly sensitive, triangular- shaped, dog ears that were perched right atop his head.

Instinctively, he flattened his ears and swatted at the intruding sound with his clawed hand only to hit the hornet square on the head. His eyes widened in horror as the insect grabbed onto his hand and plunged its oversized stinger into the skin of his hand.

The remainder of the day, he was forced to walk around school with a swollen hand. 'Just another thing for everyone to laugh at.' He thought morosely as he made his way back to his classroom. He went to sit in his assigned seat, but found a boy sitting there, taking to the girl that Inuyasha was seated beside.

He stood, impatiently, waiting for the boy to finish his conversation and return to his seat.

The boy scoffed and turned around to face the half demon behind him.

"Inuyasha…" He started, smiling. "You know, you can just take my seat. I'm talking to Yuka if you don't mind."

"I'll get a referral if I sit somewhere else, you asshole." Inuyasha muttered.

The boy, obviously taking offense to Inuyasha's statement stood and walked toward him, challenging him to continue to speak the way he had.

"Have you forgotten your place, half breed?" He asked, pushing Inuyasha toward the desk. He somehow tripped over a leg of a nearby desk and wound up collapsing on the ground.

The boy laughed. "Just like a dog. Sit boy!" He laughed as the rest of the class joined in. The teacher walked into the room just as the laughter grew.

"Class, calm down… what's…" The teacher said, looking around to find the cause of their outburst only to find Inuyasha struggling to get up from a spot on the floor.

"Inuyasha! What are you doing on the floor?" The teacher asked, placing her hands on her hips.

"He's doing what any normal dog would do!" A girl shouted in the midst of her laughter.

The teacher sighed and placed a hand to her forehead. "Inuyasha, go see the principal, please…" She muttered as Inuyasha stood and made his way out of the classroom.

---

"Inuyasha…"

He smiled at his mother who greeted him, smiling when he returned home from school that day. He nodded, removing his jacket from his arms and placing it on the coat hanger on the wall by the door.

She gasped as a timer from the kitchen went off. "Oh! It's your cake." She said, rushing off.

"My… cake?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well of course, sweetie! Don't you dare think your own mother forgot your birthday."

Inuyasha scoffed, wiping a hand over his face. "Well, the rest of the world did, so I wouldn't be so surprised."

Izayoi gasped, placing the cake on the counter and rushing over to her son, grabbing his hand. "Inuyasha, what happened?" She asked, looking over the swollen hand.

"I got stung…"

Izayoi sighed. "I'll go get some cream." She said softly, heading into the bathroom. "Takemaru will be home in a few, so I hope you don't mind eating your cake before it cools." She shouted from the bathroom.

Inuyasha sighed, plopping down on the couch in the living room. "Awesome! I get to scorch my tastebuds off while dealing with my drunkard, asshole of a stepfather, Hooray. Could I have asked for a better birthday?" He said sarcastically as his mother reappeared.

"You're not to call Takemaru names like that. You should know better." She scolded, squeezing a white cream out of the bottle in her hand and rubbing it over the affected area of Inuyasha's hand.

"Well, now that I'm eighteen and all, mom, I think I can do whatever I want." He said, smirking.

Izayoi looked up to meet his eyes with a cold glare. "Inuyasha, if you start a fight with Takemaru tonight…" She shook her head angrily. "Why can't you just behave?" She asked, jumping back from him. "I mean, honestly, you act like I'm happy in this situation? That I love having the two of you come home just to fight?"

Inuyasha growled. "Well maybe if you stopped pussyfooting around the guy, you wouldn't be in this situation anymore, would you? You'd be divorced, living with someone that actually gives two shits about us and happy! Or are you just a complete masochist?!" Inuyasha shouted.

Izayoi stiffened, scoffing and turning her head from him. "I'm going to the store." She said coldly, throwing the tube of cream on the ground and storming to the door to grab her shoes. "Happy birthday…" She muttered, opening the door to leave.

He slunk back on the couch, crossing his arms as guilt washed over him. He hated upsetting his mother. She was, after all, the only person that even cared about him. And sadly enough, he knew that wasn't an exaggeration.

His ears twitched at the sound of the doorknob turning and he looked up, expecting to see his mother in the doorway, but instead was met with the dark brown eyes of his stepfather who didn't bother to greet him as he made his way to the kitchen.

Inuyasha knew how much his stepfather loathed him. Takemaru could at least pretend to love his mother, but he felt nothing but disgust for her son. Why would he want Inuyasha around, though? Even if he was a half demon… he was also the spawn of a man that had raped his mother. No wonder the man held so much resentment for the half demon. He was an abomination in so many levels.

Inuyasha groaned and stood up from the couch, heading toward the bathroom. He sighed, locking himself in and glared at himself in the mirror. His long, silvery white hair, his golden irises surrounding his pupils… his two white dog ears growing from his head.

He was a monster…

He took in a deep breath and bent down to dig through the cabinet beneath the sink. He pulled out a familiar brown box that he kept his cigarettes hidden in. Opening it up, he found it was empty, save for a note.

_'Inuyasha, I threw these away. You're not even eighteen yet. Why don't you wait a little longer before you ruin your health?'_

He groaned, rolling his eyes. "Well, I'm eighteen now mom… and I'd like to at least give myself one fucking thing I'd like for my birthday…" He muttered, setting the box down as he sat on the rug on the floor.

He slumped his shoulders, looking in the cabinet. He tilted his head curiously at the sight of an envelope in the very back.

'An envelope? How did I miss that?' He asked, reaching into the back of the cabinet to grab it. He looked it over in his hand. 'For Memory's Sake' was written on the front. Inuyasha turned the envelope around and opened it only to find stacks of folded papers inside.

He furrowed his brow and pulled the one nearest the opening out, unfolding it to read whatever it was.

_'April 17__th__, 1986_

_My dearest Izayoi,_

_I don't really know how many more letters my heart is willing to send without a response from you. How could you just leave me the way you did that morning, nearly a month ago? What did I do? _

_Izayoi, my world is nothing but an empty void without your light to fill it. I need you. For the past eleven years, you're all that I've known. If it's Takemaru, I promise I'll keep you safe from him. I'll do anything, Izayoi. Just please come back to me…_

_Inu no Taisho'_

Inuyasha gasped in horror, setting the letter down by his feet.

_"You are more than just an abomination! You're the son of the man that raped your mother five years ago, Inuyasha! The demon Inu no Taisho, subdued her and forced himself on her."_

He shut his eyes, forcing out the memory of Takemaru's explanation of his existence so long ago.

'Inu no Taisho, huh?' He asked himself. He glanced over the letter again and spotted the return address. He narrowed his eyes and stuffed the letter back into its envelope, then folded the envelope and placed it in his pocket. He stood and opened the bathroom door, turning out the light as he left. He was going to have quite the talk with his mother once she got back.

"Why's there a cake?" Takemaru asked, his mouth full of the cake Izayoi had baked.

"It's my birthday…" Inuyasha said quietly, slightly disturbed by the fact that Takemaru was eating his cake.

Takemaru chuckled. "Hah! Who would celebrate the day that _you _were born? You're a freak of nature, kid… You should have been 'taken care of' if you know what I mean…" Takemaru muttered. "But your stupid mother. 'She didn't care. She loved you anyway.' Pah! She was just ashamed of being raped. She didn't want the world to know that was how you'd been conceived. So, she lied and babied you just like any normal mother would with any normal human child. But she knows what you are…" Takemaru smirked at the rage that flooded Inuyasha's eyes. "And she despises you for it…"

Inuyasha's mind went blank as he charged into the kitchen and slammed Takemaru against the wall, the cake in his hands falling to the ground.

"SHUT UP!" He shouted.

Takemaru shook his head, laughing at Inuyasha. "See what I mean? Nothing but a monster…"

Inuyasha growled, his breathing ragged. He scoffed and let Takemaru down from the wall.

Takemaru laughed again. "And you try to pretend that you have a heart."

"JUST SHUT UP!" Inuyasha shouted, his back turned to the his stepfather.

_"You're a freak…" Takemaru said to him when he was six. Inuyasha covered his ears, sitting in the corner of the kitchen, crying. "Stop it… stop it… I'm not a freak."_

_"Yes you are. No one loves you. Your mother doesn't even really love you because you're a monster. She's afraid of you…"_

_His soft crying turned into sobs that racked his body. "No she isn't. She loves me. I'm not a monster…"_

_"You're crying because you know it's true."_

Takemaru shook his head. "You've always been so weak, you know?"

Inuyasha turned to face him, narrowing his eyes. "I don't give a SHIT what you think of me, you bastard…"

Takemaru's smile vanished. "What did you call me?!"

Inuyasha stood his ground, silently glaring at the man before him.

"You ungrateful son of a bitch!" He shouted, lunging forward and punching Inuyasha in the eye. Inuyasha groaned and grabbed at his face, looking up at Takemaru with his good eye.

'I'm done with this…' He thought, turning around to head for the door.

"You gonna go crying to mommy, huh?" Takemaru asked, smirking.

Inuyasha ignored him and grabbed his coat, heading out the door.

'I'll find you… and then you can save us, just like you said you would.'

---

"Kagome! Come on, get in the car…"

It was snowing that night, practically a blizzard as Higurashi Kagome left her school building after her volleyball practice. She smiled and waved to the girls on her team as she walked to the car where her mother stood outside the door, glaring at her impatiently.

"I'm coming, Mama!" She said, smiling, skipping a bit on her way to the silver car her mother drove to pick her up.

"I can't believe you were considering walking home in this weather. It's a disaster out here." Her mother said as the two put their seatbelts on and put the car in drive.

She chortled. "Mama, you act like the house is miles away. It'd be a ten minute walk, tops."

"Maybe, but you're not even dressed properly. You're wearing shorts and a tank top, for goodness sake."

"I brought a coat…" Kagome said, rolling her eyes.

"I can't afford for you to be sick, too, Kagome. Your brother has already missed two weeks of school because of his cold." She sighed. "I can't have two kids fail their semesters." She said shaking her head.

"Mama, Souta's not going to fail! He's…" She trailed off, looking out her window at the sight of a boy with long white hair and two… dog ears on top of his head? He was walking against the wind, probably being hit by snowflakes falling at the speed they were driving.

She would have assumed he was a homeless man, but the area she went to school in was far too nice for a homeless person to wander into.

"Mama… do you see that boy?" She asked as they stopped at a red light. Mrs. Higurashi looked out the passenger window and gasped.

"Do you know him?" She asked. Kagome shook her head. "He's not even wearing his jacket. He's got it felt up to his face to protect himself from the snowflakes." She sighed.

"Maybe we could give him a ride?" Kagome asked.

"Kagome! We don't even know him." Her mother said.

Kagome scoffed, unbuckling her seatbelt and opening the passenger door, running over to the boy.

"Kagome!" Her mother shouted as the light changed to green. She scoffed irritated and let off the gas to pull over on the nearest shoulder. "Kagome!" She shouted through the passenger door.

"Umm… excuse me!" Kagome shouted as she approached the boy. He turned to look at her, dropping the jacket from his face. Kagome gasped at the sight of his golden eyes.

"Do… do you need some help?" She asked, carefully.

He shook, staring at her in disbelief.

Kagome chortled. "Come on, you've got to be freezing. It's like ten degrees out here!" She said, grabbing at his hand. Inuyasha stiffened.

"We'll give you a ride, okay?" She said, smiling at him as she led him to her mother's car.

---


	2. The Daughter

**The Roads That Lead To You**

**By: Patche**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the characters or story of Inuyasha, nor have I ever claimed to.

**Chapter 2: The Daughter**

**oOo**

---

_"Takemaru, please!" He could hear his mother wailing from the living room after Takemaru returned home from a long night of drinking. He winced at every noise that he could hear. The slap of his hand against her face, the cries of pain._

_ He just hid in his bedroom, his back against the wall, covering those unfortunately sensitive ears of his._

_ 'One day, Mama… one day I'll save you.' He thought, cringing his teeth at his powerlessness._

_ He picked his head up as the sounds ceased and listened, waiting for another noise._

_ "TAKEMARU, NO!" His mother shrieked._

_ He felt his heart racing as the sounds of angry footsteps were headed for his door. He heard his doorknob turn and spun around to find Takemaru staring at him, his eyes wild with anger. Takemaru crossed the room fluidly and made his way to the boy, grabbing him by the arm and picking him up two feet off the ground._

_ Inuyasha closed his eyes, preparing for whatever anger Takemaru would unleash on him._

---

He gasped, opening his eyes and sitting up.

'Oh…. It was just a nightmare…' He thought, relieved to find he wasn't six years old or in his room. Inuyasha raised an eyebrow and stared at the blanket draped across his legs. It looked like an old comforter with a cartoon character design all over the front of it.

'What the hell?' He tore the comforter off him, and gazed around the room. The walls were painted a light beige and there were framed pictures hanging from every dimension of the room. Pictures of a family.

'Where am I?'

He didn't remember anything, especially how he wound up in this strange room. He studied the picture on the wall nearest him. It was surrounded by a thin black frame and inside, there were four people. A man was standing, he looked sharp but still kind enough. His arm was wrapped around the waist of a woman with short, curly brown hair and soft eyes. The two of them had their hands on the shoulders of what appeared to be a child and a teenager standing in front of them. The child was obviously a boy. He was grinning happily, showing off some of his missing teeth. The teenager was a girl, almost as tall as her mother. Her hair was long, and jet black and she was smiling, her hands clasped together in front of her. And her eyes… they were the deepest blue he could imagine looking into.

His attention was broken at the sound of a knock on the door.

His eyes shifted nervously around the room. 'Shit…' He thought as the door opened.

The woman from the picture appeared in the doorway, a mug in her hand. She gasped at the sight of him, holding a hand to her chest. She chuckled after the shock wore off and handed him the mug.

"I thought this might help warm you up a little more. Your clothes are in the dryer, by the way. I hope you don't mind wearing some of Kouji's old clothes." She smiled sympathetically.

Inuyasha looked down and noticed he was wearing a white button up, rather than the shirt he'd put on the previous morning.

"It seems like you had a pretty mild case of hypothermia." She said, concerned. "You didn't even know your name last night." She said, raising her hand to feel his forehead.

Inuyasha winced at the movement and she withdrew her hand.

"It's okay. I just want to see if you're running a fever." She said softly, placing her hand on his forehead.

Inuyasha blinked, a little surprised by the action.

"Who are you?" He asked, his voice feeling like molasses as it escaped his throat.

The woman smiled. "I'm Higurashi Houko. I'm a nurse at the hospital just a few blocks from here. Do you remember last night?" She asked him.

Inuyasha shook his head slowly. "Was I in the hospital?" He asked, fearfully.

Houko shook her head. "No, we found you walking in the middle of a blizzard. Kagome… my daughter, wanted to give you a ride home, but you weren't telling us where you lived. You seemed to be in a daze and you weren't walking very well. So, we hurried home to warm you up." She said, smiling.

"Ka… gome?"

Houko nodded. "Yes, that's my daughter." She sighed. "I don't know what'll happen once she's out on her own… I just pray she doesn't live near any panhandlers or she'll be broke!" She said laughing at her own joke only to receive a disbelieving stare from Inuyasha.

She sighed as her laughter slowed and she pat the comforter. "Well, she and her brother, Souta, are at school right now. He's the one that lent you his blanket. It's the warmest in the house, so that's why we covered you in it." She ran her fingers over it. "I swear, this thing is the oldest, and grossest blanket anyone could imagine, but he just won't let me buy him a new one."

A loud ding from another room caused Inuyasha's ears to twitch and Houko shot up.

"Oh, your clothes must be dry. I'll be right back." She said, patting his leg as she stood.

'O…kay…' Inuyasha thought, still confused as to how he wound up wherever he was. He groaned as a throbbing began in the hand that had been stung the day before. He lifted his hand to inspect the damage and noticed the red lump had increased in size slightly. He sighed bitterly and shoved his hand beneath the blanket.

---

She was forcing him to stay and eat dinner. What kind of household was this? Didn't normal rich, happy families like this one try to stay away from suspicious people walking the streets in blizzards, or was his perception of the world completely off?

"So, Inuyasha, right?" Houko asked as she stood in the kitchen with him, preparing dinner for the rest of her family.

"Yeah." He said, paying hardly any attention to her.

"Do you want to call your parents? I'm sure they're worried. I can have Kagome give you a ride home once we finish dinner."

Inuyasha sighed and shook his head. "They aren't worried. I'll be out of your hair soon enough…" He mumbled.

Houko blinked. "You're not a bother, you know? I actually was glad Kagome thought it'd be best to help you."

Inuyasha looked out at her from the corner of his eye. 'So… is this pity, or something?'

"Do you… have a home, Inuyasha?"

"What? Of course I do!" He barked at her. "I'm just not going back for a long long time!" He immediately regretted letting out so much information.

"We're home!"

Houko gave Inuyasha one last suspicious look before peeking out through the kitchen.

"Kagome, Souta! Dinner will be ready soon." She said, smiling.

"Alright." Kagome said, cheerfully, walking into the kitchen behind her mother. She stopped noticing the silver-haired boy from the night before was standing by the sink, staring at her. She smiled nervously, under his golden gaze and shifted her attention to her mother.

"Umm… Sango-chan wants to know if she can come over later and study with me. Would that be okay?" She asked her mother.

Houko smiled and nodded. "Well, it is, so long as you can give Inuyasha a ride home before she comes over."

"I told you I don't-" Inuyasha started, but was cut off as Houko held up her hand. 'God, this woman is giving me such a headache…' He thought, holding a hand to his head.

"Do you mind, Kagome?" She asked, still smiling brightly.

Kagome took a glance at Inuyasha, who was silently begging her to disagree, then turned to her mother. "Yeah, no problem!" And with that, she skipped out of the kitchen.

Inuyasha groaned inwardly as he conjured up his plan of action before pushing himself off the counter and heading out of the kitchen.

"Rawr!"

Inuyasha quirked an eyebrow at the young boy in front of him, blocking his path to the rest of the house.

"You're a wolf, right? So maybe it'd be _aroooo"_ The boy said, smiling childishly. "That's cute! My sister is totally a cat and I'm a frog! You can be a part of our farm!"

Inuyasha blinked staring at the child in complete shock as he pursed his lips. "What kind of farm would keep a wolf and a frog?" He asked, disinterested in the boy.

The boy scoffed and placed his hands on his hips. "Only the cool farm, duh!" He said through a smart-alec tone.

Inuyasha prepared his retort just as the girl, Kagome, came sauntering back into the room he currently occupied.

"Souta. What are you doing to our poor guest?"

"I was telling him he could join our farm, Nee-chan!" He said, smiling. "He can be the wolf!"

Kagome laughed and ruffled the younger boy's hair, shooting Inuyasha a sympathetic look. "Don't take it to heart. He's just a kid." She said, turning back to her brother.

Inuyasha scoffed and crossed his arms over his chest. "I didn't take any offense to it! I'm not that sensitive!" He shouted, fighting back the heat rising through his face after his interaction with the girl.

---

Dinner was so much louder than he was used to. A man named Kouji had returned home. He assumed this was Houko's husband and Kagome's and Souta's father. He was as tall and rugged as the man in the picture and had a nice, calming aura about him. Kouji reminded him of the father on a television show he used to watch as a little boy about some child's misadventures. The main character would always come home from his travels and receive a warm hug from his mother and a bedtime story from his father.

He forgot that families were supposed to behave like this.

They didn't say much to him, though Houko was desperately trying to involve him in the conversation. Instead, Kouji and Souta led the conversation with details of their day while Kagome sat quietly, eating her food and looking up occasionally to glance at her guest.

Once dinner was over, the family took their dishes and set them in the sink for Houko and Kagome to wash, while Souta and Kouji disappeared into their bedrooms. Inuyasha took this time to sneak to the front door and as quietly as possible, leave the house he'd been cooped up in for twenty-four hours.

He had just made it to the door when he heard his name being called behind him.

"Inuyasha… I was thinking…"

He turned around. It was Houko giving him a look he'd only seen on his mother's face when she was worried about him.

"I don't want Kagome out so late in this nasty weather. We're supposed to get a blizzard soon. Why don't you just stay another night? You can call your parents. I'm sure it'll all be just fine."

Inuyasha scoffed and opened the door. "I'm not calling them."

"Well you're not walking."

Both Houko and Inuyasha turned to see Kagome standing behind them, her car keys in her hand.

"Kagome, you aren't driving in this weather." Houko said sternly.

"Mama, I was taught how to drive in the snow. Besides, if it gets too bad, I can call dad." She said softly. "We don't need him out in the cold. Maybe he's still a little hypothermic."

Houko nodded. "Fine, but you better be very careful!" She said, her position unfaultering.

Kagome nodded her head once and walked toward the door behind Inuyasha, closing it behind her as they both set out into the night. He felt slightly relieved that he didn't have to walk. He had been feeling drowsy and a little dizzy since dinner. It must have been the food.

Inuyasha was silent as they walked down to the street outside Kagome's house where her car was parked. It was a small, blue sporty car, definitely a newer model whatever it was. He wasn't entirely sure.

As they reached the car, Kagome opened her mouth to speak.

"I just noticed it, but that black eye you had last night is already gone." She said, climbing into the car.

'Black eye?' He thought, remembering Takemaru punching him in the face before he stormed away from the man.

"I wonder how that works…" She mused. Inuyasha climbed into the seat beside her and watched while she started the engine and fastened her seatbelt.

"It's 'cause I'm a half demon. I figured that was obvious." He said, folding his arms over his chest and glaring out the window and waiting for her to shriek in disgust at this fact.

"Well, I knew that much." She said, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear and putting the car in drive. "I just didn't know half demons recovered so quickly."

He felt his mind go completely blank at her words. _'I knew that…'_ She knew? Yet, she still helped him?

"So, where am I going?" She asked, glancing at him.

"You can just stop here." He muttered. "I can find my way."

Kagome slammed on her brakes. "What?! I'm not leaving you out here in this cold, you idiot! Tell me where to go!" She exclaimed, awaiting direction from the boy beside her.

"I just told you. Let me out wherever, because I'm not going home!" He shouted, mentally cursing himself for, again, revealing too much to a complete stranger. Was he this bad with communication? Or did he just feel a weird sense of trust around Kagome and her mother? He rolled his eyes at the thought.

Kagome was a little surprised by him speaking clearly. He was always muttering words to her mother…

She sighed and pulled over to the side of the road, putting the car in park.

He was so irritated and the world around him seemed to be spinning, not that this was an excuse for his rude behavior, but he felt as if he was going to explode at any second. How did he even expect to walk feeling like this?

"Fine…" She whispered, feeling defeated. Inuyasha hastily opened the passenger door into the empty neighborhood street and began to step out of the car when he felt a lump rising in his throat. He tried to swallow it down, but aggravated his body more in the process as he began to shiver.

"Are you okay?" Kagome asked, reaching for him. He slunk away from her arm and leaned out the door, releasing the contents of his stomach onto the ground beneath him.

"Oh my gosh!" Kagome shouted, noticing the lump on his hand had swollen to the size of a golfball. The surrounding skin was a bright red, almost violet color. She grabbed his shoulder and spun him around once he'd finished his business outside the door.

"Change in plans!" She shouted, putting the car in drive and speeding off to the nearest hospital, grabbing the phone to call her mother.

Inuyasha groaned, closing his eyes in the passenger seat.

"Hey, hey!" Kagome shouted, pulling the phone up to her ear. "Hang in there, please!" She begged.

Inuyasha heard her pleading voice echoing through his memory as his eyes closed and he was plunged into the darkness.

---

**AN** – I really only wanted the first chapter to have an AN at the beginning. It's going to be down here, though, as it always is. Okay… so, I'm sure you guys can guess what's wrong with him… I have to admit, looking up everything about wasp sting allergies really gave me the creeps. Anyway, I'm very happy this story is doing so well! I'm glad so many people like it so far :) I will be updating I Stole Your Soul next. So strange, Inuyasha's on his way to the hospital in both these stories. Don't know how that worked.

Please leave a review. It's what keeps me going.


	3. A New Situation

**The Roads That Lead To You**

**By: Patche**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the characters or story of Inuyasha, nor have I ever claimed to.

**Chapter 3: A New Situation**

**oOo**

He groaned, opening his eyes to reveal a bright, blinding light penetrating through his retinas. His head was throbbing in pain. He clenched his eyes shut once more until a familiar voice rang through his eardrums.

"We tried to call the number you gave us for his mother's house, but no one answered."

It was that damn woman… 'Why won't she just leave me alone, already?' He asked himself, opening his eyes again to find he was in a new room. The walls were light beige and the room smelled of latex. A soft beeping to his right caused him to turn his head to find a monitor of some sort with a graph of what he could only assume to be his heart rate. He'd seen places like this many times on the televisions and in the movies, but he'd never actually been to one.

Just then, the door opened and there stood the girl. Kaguma, or whatever her name was.

"Mama! He's awake…" She shouted into the hallway, entering the room. "Hey…" She said softly, sitting on the edge of his bed. "How are you doing?"

Inuyasha narrowed his eyes and scoffed. 'What's with this damn family? Can't they just mind their own business?'

"I'm fine." He said gruffly. Kagome nodded.

"They said it must have been an allergic reaction… the way your body responded, anyway." She said, softly, her eyes avoiding his.

He quirked an eyebrow. 'Why's she all nervous all of the sudden?'

"It wasn't… you know… drug-related… right? I told the doctor it couldn't have been, but I just don't really know you… it was sort of an impulse… I didn't want him stereotyping you, but I guess that actually could have been a bad idea if the drugs were what forced your body to react like that…"

Inuyasha cracked a wry smile at this and turned his head. "No, it wasn't drugs." He murmured.

Kagome's eyes widened. "I'm sorry. I didn't think it would be, but you know. I mean, I just didn't want them to even suggest something like that because…" She trailed off, glancing around the room.

Inuyasha sighed and sat up. "It was probably the wasp."

Kagome cocked in her head in question, urging him to continue.

"I was stung." He said holding the swollen lump on his hand up to her for emphasis. "They day you guys found me, I pissed some wasp off earlier and the bastard stung me."

Kagome nodded, reaching out for his arm. From the elbow up, the entire limb was practically purple.

"Oh, so you must be allergic to them. Well, are you feeling any better?" She asked, brining her eyes up to meet his.

Inuyasha gave her a soft nod. "My head is. My arm's been burning, but I've almost become used to the feeling by now."

Kagome held his arm in her hand, inspecting the affected area. Inuyasha flinched a little at the sudden contact, but relaxed under her touch.

"Ah, and there's our man!" An unfamiliar voice rang from the doorway. The two turned their attention to the man dressed in a long white lab coat standing beside Kagome's mother.

"Dr. Watanabe…" Kagome said softly.

He nodded and crossed the room to Inuyasha's side, taking his arm from Kagome and inspecting it himself.

"Well, like I told them, it looks like an allergic reaction of some kind."

Inuyasha felt a growl rising in his throat at how friendly and touchy this doctor was. It was irritating how he yanked Inuyasha's arm from Kagome.

"I got stung by a wasp." He said through clenched teeth. The doctor nodded, pushing his thick framed glasses further up his nose as he came across the large lump forming on Inuyasha's hand.

"I see…" He said softly. "Well, Inuyasha, for a wasp sting, that was a pretty dramatic reaction." He murmured, pulling away from the boy and sitting down in a stool with wheels not too far from the bedside. "In fact, you still have a fever despite all the medical attention we've given you and it's clear that the area around this sting is still extremely inflamed." He added, gesturing to Inuyasha's arm. "We're going to have to give you some pills, but for the rest of your life, you're going to have to avoid getting stung like that. It could very well be the end of you." He turned to Kagome and her mother. "When you guys brought him in here, he was practically on fire." Turning back to Inuyasha, he added, "If you weren't a half demon, you wouldn't have survived the sting."

Kagome and her mother both gasped. Inuyasha, however, seemed unaffected by the doctor's words.

"So, what can we do to help?" Kagome asked, her voice like a chiming bell in comparison to the doctor.

Inuyasha gulped, silently praying that the doctor would say the best remedy is to just leave Inuyasha alone and let him continue his journey to find his father by himself.

Of course, that would never have been the case.

"Well, he needs LOTS of rest, though I do recommend you still go to school." The doctor playfully nudged Inuyasha. "Can't get out of it that easily, huh, buddy?" He laughed for a while at his own joke then continued on. "Stay away from spicy foods for a while. Only eat softer foods. Rice is a great thing. Get plenty of vitamins in your system. Stay away from lotions. Any kind will really only irritate the skin further at this point. But do not avoid washing your arm all the time. Like… every chance you get because you don't want an infection to seep in through this rather large puncture." He smiled. "Aside from all that, I think you can return to your normal life. Just go to school, don't do anything that's too tiring for your body. Yes, you are a half demon, but you still need to let your body recuperate." The doctor smiled once more, ruffling Inuyasha's hair.

"Higurashi-sama, if you'll just step out here in the hall with me, we can get his prescription filled here. Did you know it's just as cheap as the drug store only with the convenience of…."

His voice faded away as the two of them left the hospital room.

Somehow… he'd managed to wind up in their car heading back to their house to be treated by _them_ until he was well enough to go back home. The fact that his mother didn't answer the house phone had Houko concerned and so she came up with the decision (all on her own and definitely not with any convincing words from her daughter) to not only let him continue to sleep under their roof, but to attend Kagome's high school while he was getting well.

Inuyasha sighed bitterly, and pressed his forehead against the glass of the passenger window. 'How does this kind of crap happen to me?!'

"Alright, Inuyasha…" Houko began as the car rolled up to the house. "Just, go on inside and get yourself all settled into the guest bedroom. We'll go ahead and get you transferred in the morning." She said, excitedly as Inuyasha pushed the passenger door open angrily.

Kagome followed behind him quietly as they made it up to their house and slipped off to her room.

"Hey nee-chan!" Kagome was greeted on her way into the house.

She groaned and just continued walking listlessly to her bedroom.

Inuyasha watched as she walked off to her room, feeling a little guilty knowing he had kept the two of them up all night. It had to be nearly midnight by the time they made it back.

"Inu no-niichan!"

He snapped out of his thoughts to find her younger brother, staring up at him.

"What did you call me?" Inuyasha asked incredulously.

"You know. You're like my brother now since Mama said you'll be living with us!"

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "I'm not living with you. I'm just staying here until I get over this wasp sting."

Souta nodded, smiling up at Inuyasha, still.

"Why are you smiling at me like that?" Inuyasha growled, furrowing his eyebrows.

Souta shrugged. "I just have a feeling that wasp sting is going to take you a LOOOONG time to get over…" He said, skipping away from the half demon.

Inuyasha scoffed and walked off to the guest bedroom, muttering about what a strange family he'd been forced to live with.

Houko had connections with the higher ups in the school, so getting Inuyasha in was done within a matter of minutes over the phone. He still didn't understand just how the school accepted him when he had no records to offer up. However, he decided it was better to just keep his mouth shut and figure out how he was going to get out of this house and find his father. It had already been three days…

Wasn't anyone at least worried about him?

He stood in front of the mirror, adjusting his tie. His last school didn't require the male students to wear ties with their uniform and he found it to be a rather uncomfortable adjustment.

"Hey, are you ready?"

He turned his attention from the reflection in the mirror to the girl standing in the hallway. Kagome looked at him, her eyebrows raised as she awaited an answer to his question. He couldn't help but glance her over once. Her uniform was much more revealing than those at his last school. Her blue plaid skirt hardly came down to her mid thighs and the button up she wore over her chest was practically fitted to her body.

And just as it had been the past few nights he'd seen her, her dark ebony hair was tied back in a ponytail.

"Y…yeah…" He murmured, giving his tie one last tug. Kagome sighed, fastening the ascot around her neck as she stepped over to him.

"Here…" She offered, taking the tie from his hands and undoing the knot he'd put in it.

Inuyasha stood as still as he could, trying his best to ignore the fact that her hands kept grazing against his neck while she worked to fix his tie.

She smiled and patted the tie down on his chest, stepping away from him. "That should do it." She said cheerfully. Inuyasha sighed, letting his body relax and only then did he realize he'd been holding his breath the entire time Kagome was so close to him.

He'd never actually had someone stand so close to him or even touch him as often as she did. His own mother kept her distance most of the time.

"You don't mind walking with me, do you?" Kagome asked. "I mean, we're going to the same place. I figured I could at least show you the way. But if you don't want to you could ride my bike or just walk a few feet behind me…"

Inuyasha shook his head. "It's fine." He murmured.

Kagome sighed and smiled at him weakly.

"It looks like we have the same home room!" Kagome said cheerfully as they left the administration office and headed through the school halls. "That's exciting. At least you won't be completely alone."

Inuyasha stared at the piece of paper in front of him. 'Like I'd prefer to be surrounded by people…?' He thought dryly as Kagome continued to ramble on about the school.

They stopped at the locker area and Kagome smiled sheepishly at Inuyasha.

"Why are we stopping?" He asked, looking around as Kagome slipped her shoes off and placed them in a locker.

"We have to change shoes." She said, concentrating on her feet as she spoke. Inuyasha scoffed.

"What are you talking about?"

Kagome pulled out a pair of slippers from her locker. "You didn't do this at your old school?" She asked.

"No."

Kagome looked around nervously, then slipped her slippers on and ran to Inuyasha's side, helping him to find his locker. "We have to change out of our regular shoes and into the slippers my mom bought with your uniform." She said softly, pulling them out of his book bag. "There's your locker." She gestured to the corner locker at the end of the row.

Inuyasha gaped at her for a minute in disbelief, then followed suit, taking his black shoes off and slipping the slippers on over his socks.

She sighed, walking off into the hallway, turning around to check that Inuyasha was following her. "Our homeroom is pretty easy to find." She murmured, stopping at a doorway just a few feet away from the locker area.

"Kagome-chan!" A girl's voice called out from behind them. Inuyasha turned to find a girl walking toward them, smiling and waving. Her black hair was curled to perfection, cascading down her shoulders and her deep black eyes were hidden behind fake eye-lashes and more eye shadow than any girl should wear. Her uniform had also been slightly altered. The skirt was at least an inch shorter than any other girls' skirts and her ascot was missing, as well as the top two buttons of her shirt.

Kagome blinked, looking up at Inuyasha for a moment, then back to the girl just as she stopped to stand beside Kagome.

"Hitomi… chan…" Kagome said slowly. "What… Why are you so dressed up?"

She smiled coyly and flipped her hair over her shoulder. "Well, Sango-chan said there was a transfer student arriving today. I just wanted to make sure he noticed me, that's all."

"You mean, Inuyasha?" Kagome asked, gesturing to the boy beside her.

Hitomi looked up at the boy beside Kagome, inspecting him carefully before sneering.

"You mean _that_ is the new transfer student?!"

Inuyasha narrowed his eyes at her comment, flattening his ears slightly.

Kagome scoffed. "He's not a _that_… his name is Inuyasha. He's staying with me for a while so my mom enrolled him in our school."

Hitomi chortled and walked into the classroom, disregarding Kagome and Inuyasha as she passed.

Kagome sighed, leaning up to reach Inuyasha's ear as she whispered into it, "Don't let her bother you. Most of the people here are really nice. I promise."

Inuyasha watched as she lowered herself from her tip toes and stepped into the classroom. He felt a sigh erupting from his throat, but suppressed it, following after her into the classroom.

He stopped as every pair of eyes turned to lock on his figure as he stepped through the doorway. They were all just… staring at him. Had they never seen a half demon before? Or were they just as curious about the new transfer student as that Hitomi girl was?

"Inuyasha!" He jerked his head in the direction of Kagome's voice and found her sitting beside an empty desk, waving him over to it. "Come sit over here."

He lowered his eyes and pushed through the classroom, ignoring everyone's silent stares as he passed before making his way to the empty seat beside Kagome.

"Inuyasha…" She started as he set his backpack down. "These are my friends." She gestured to a boy with shoulder-length dark brown hair. He seemed a little on the scrawny end of the spectrum, but had soft, boyish features and deep blue eyes. His hair was pulled back into a low ponytail at the nape of his neck and Inuyasha noticed the tiny golden hoop that hung from the boy's right earlobe.

"This is Tsujitani Miroku!" Kagome said sweetly. "Miroku-sama… this is Inuyasha. He's going to be staying with me and my family for a while until he recovers from a wasp sting."

Miroku nodded. "You're a lucky guy. I'd kill to be staying with Kagome-sama and Higurashi-sama…" He trailed off, his eyes glinting.

A girl sitting beside them quite forcefully smacked the back of the boy's head, scoffing at his words.

Kagome smiled nervously. "And this is Kuwashima Sango. She's my best friend. She and Miroku have been dating for almost a year now."

"Thanks to Kagome-chan, really." The girl said smiling. "I don't think I would have given the perve half a chance if she didn't talk me into it." Sango said, a hint of bitterness seeping through her words. Inuyasha looked her over. Her complexion was half a shade darker than Kagome's and her eyes were deep brown, the same color as her hair which was pulled back into a low ponytail. She wasn't thin and frail as Kagome. She was athletically built and still curvaceous and womanly in her appearance.

"Nonsense, Sango dearest. I think you were in love with me long before Kagome-sama ever intervened." Miroku said, smirking at the girl beside him.

Sango scoffed and shook her head. "As if! I just knew that whenever I felt something grabbing my ass, I could blame your hand as the culprit!"

Miroku laughed nervously.

Kagome sighed, turning to Inuyasha. "They make a nice couple in my opinion…" She said softly. Inuyasha let out a chortle before crossing his arms over his chest and turning to the front of the classroom.

"Kagome-chan…" He heard Sango whisper to the girl beside him. His ear twitched and turned in their direction, catching bits and pieces of what she had to say. "Is it really such a good idea to have him staying with you? Didn't you find him wandering the streets?" She asked. "He doesn't seem so friendly, either…"

Kagome sighed. "Sango-chan, it's fine."

"You know, Kagome-sama… you don't ALWAYS have to help people." Miroku whispered now. "You do enough good as it is."

Kagome chuckled.

"There's no such thing as enough good."

**AN** – I don't know how I feel about this chapter. It took me so long because I've been revising it over and over and over again and I still don't necessarily like the flow. I feel like Inuyasha isn't even present at all in this haha. Anyway, next update shouldn't be too long from now. Just remember, guys, this isn't going to be a super long story. I mean, it might be. I'm adding things as I go now even though I had the original story all planned out already.

Oh and did anyone notice this is the first story I've ever written where Kagome and Sango are friends from the start?

And, another thing, I have a friend from youtube who's writing an awesome Inuyasha fanfic that everyone should check out. It sounds super good! It's called Monster and you can find it in my favorite stories tab.

Please leave a review. It's what keeps me going.


	4. AN

Hi everyone! This is Patche. I'm terribly sorry to say that this story will be under an indefinite hiatus. I'm not going to be updating any time soon and may even take this story down. I've lost all interest in completing this story in case you all haven't noticed. When I started the story, I had everything planned out, but became engrossed in so much else that everything I had planned for this story was quickly erased from my mind.

I'm very sorry to those of you that enjoyed this story. Should inspiration strike me again, I will most definitely update.

I also would like to say that I plan to continue writing, just not stories of the Inuyasha fandom for now.

-Patche


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